Two Books Millennials Aren't About to Read.

In the last six months, even though I specialize in marketing to Millennial consumers and leading Millennial work groups, I haven’t met a single Millennial who has read a business book since leaving college.

It’s not that they are stupid or even ignorant. Millennials can read and they would if they thought there wasn’t a better option. Why read a book when you can target your learning needs with pinpoint accuracy by heading straight to the Internet?

If you have read this far, I am willing to bet you are over thirty-five. See? I’m right, aren’t I?

Stage set… here’s the heart of the matter:

I’m listed as a founder of Speaking Eagles, a group of pilots who speak for a living. I flew 3700 hours in the ten years before Parkinson and the FAA decided Captain Shaky shouldn’t be flying high performance aircraft. That’s more hours than the average pilot flies in a lifetime. But when Speaking Eagles meet I find myself slipping into the back of the room, low profile and quiet. The pilots on the front row flew heavy metal and most while being shot at.

Give me a stage and a microphone and I will stand up to any of these guys. But when they start telling flying stories I know when I am out-classed.

So last month when the group met, we were entertained by Captain Lee Ellis. Capt. Ellis was an eight year guest of the North Vietnamese at the fabled Hanoi Hilton, a prison camp where the Vietnamese wasted no energy on hospitality. Sharing stories from his new book, Leading With Honor, I knew in an instant this is one book I would love to read. So shamelessly, I let his PR person know that I blog at Forbes.com.

When your blogs end up on Forbes, books end up on your desk. PR agents have figured my love for books and regularly offer review copies. But I went looking for this book and I am glad I did.

If you want just another management book, Leading With Honor isn’t it. Ellis is a storyteller whether or not he intends to be. The management advice is solid but because so much of the management lessons are drawn from Lee’s experience as a POW the historical record commands your attention. For that reason alone, I want this book on my bookshelf.

It was happenstance that the day Leading With Honor found its way to our mailbox, Tell to Win by Peter Guber also showed up. And I am glad it did!

Guber is a master at telling stories in the context of the corporate world. He says stories help us “connect, persuade, and triumph.” As an expert teller of tales, I consider his book a management book although it certainly doesn’t read like one. Top corporate performers are almost always master communicators. If you are a leader or would like to become one, Tell to Win is for you. I found myself learning new things about the art and science of communication from page one. Gruber held my attention to the very last page.

Millennials, as a group, are not particularly good storytellers. Why should they be? They don’t read enough to get good at telling tales. And because they shy away from reading, it is likely that they are missing the powerful lessons they should be learning from our history.

So if you have a favorite Millennial duct tape him (or her) to a comfortable chair and read these two books aloud. No doubt you will receive a thank-you text of 140 characters or less!

T. Scott Gross is the author of Invisible, How Millennials Are Changing the Way We Sell, Triple Nickel Press. His first book was Positively Outrageous Service.

I’m best known as the author/creator of "Positively Outrageous Service." My goal is to make complex ideas on marketing and branding easy to understand. I'm interested in providing access to consumer and market information to new and developing small businesses, academic and ...